Contents

Summary

A NEW DANGER COMES TO TOWN — Elena tries to cope with the extreme highs and lows that are part of becoming a vampire, and Stefan and Damon almost come to blows while arguing about what is best for her. Damon decides to help Elena in his own way and asks her not to tell Stefan. A stranger, Connor Jordan, arrives in town and begins questioning Sheriff Forbes and Carol Lockwood. Connor’s actions quickly convince Stefan that they are dealing with a dangerous vampire hunter. Jeremy and Matt are shocked to see a girl they used to know, April, has returned to town and is enrolling at Mystic Falls High. At a town gathering, Elena comes close to losing control until Caroline steps in to help her. Finally, Damon confides his feelings to an unexpected friend.

Plot

SPOILERS AHEAD

Stefan teaching Elena how to feed on animals

Stefan tries to help Elena to learn and follow his diet of drinking animal blood. In the morning, Stefan and Elena wake up together in the woods to hunt. Stefan tells Elena to close her eyes so that Stefan can catch the deer and Elena can feed. During a passionate make out session, Elena begins to feel sick and pushes Stefan away. She runs away using her super speed and vomits up the animal blood she just had consumed.

Stefan and Elena

The vampire hunter is investigating the explosion site. He sees the disconnected gas pipe and the Zippo lighter. Elizabeth Forbes asks Damon if he was responsible for the death of the council. He denies it. They are interrupted by Connor.

Jeremy and Matt meet April Young, the daughter of Pastor Young. She used to be good friends with all the main characters, but has been in a boarding school since her mother died... another orphan in Mystic Falls.

April

Elena feeding on Damon

Stefan is so happy for Elena's first feeding that she doesn't have the heart to tell him she is not holding the blood down, so she goes to Damon for help. He feeds her blood from his vein.

Tyler and Caroline are interrupted just before some "grief sex". Connor is at the door with questions to Carol Lockwood about the deaths of the Council members. When he shakes hands with Tyler, Tyler's hand burns and Connor shoots him immediately. Tyler manages to escape. All this happens before Caroline manages to get downstairs. Tyler goes to the Salvatores for help. Stefan pulls wooden bullets with strange markings on them from his chest. Just by touching at them, he can tell they would be deadly to any ordinary vampire.

Stefan removing bullets from Tyler's chest

Elena joins Matt in setting up for the memorial service at the church. While they’re distributing programs, she spots April, whom she used to babysit. She goes to comfort the girl she hasn’t seen since her parents’ funeral. When Elena touches April’s arm, however, the sensation of the girl’s pulse makes her run off to the basement bathroom to puke.

Stefan hugging Bonnie

Bonnie is skulking in her house when Stefan comes to visit. He hugs her and shows her the bullet. Just by looking at them, she can tell they are not "magical". Elena has puked blood all over the bathroom and her pretty pink dress. Connor is knocking outside the door while Damon arrives with a clean dress and an excuse. He refuses to shake hands with Connor, claiming he is a Germaphobe. Connor says he is in environmental control. April is on the balcony working on her speech. Connor stabs her in the stomach.

Elena throwing up Damon's blood

Outside the church, Damon gives Elena a bag of human blood. She gulps greedily, but can’t stomach that either. “What’s happening?” she asks. Damon hypothesizes that’s it’s her doppelgänger blood and that she needs to drink from the vein. When the memorial mass starts, the Mayor invites April to speak. When the girl doesn’t approach the podium, Elena is the only one who stands up. As she starts to speak, Elena smells April’s blood and starts to fang out. Stefan takes her away from the podium. All the vampires have smelled blood, but Damon warns them to not turn around as they are being watched.

Elena feeds on Matt

Elena can't control herself as she has not fed. Matt offers his blood to feed her and stabilize her, as much as possible during the funeral. Surprisingly she drinks just a bit and manages to control herself. Seeing that Elena isn't holding herself together, Tyler, fully knowing that the hunter will recognize him, takes the stand to speak for Pastor Young. Connor shoots him with a decorated stake. Hell breaks loose. Damon goes after the hunter and Caroline pulls the stake out of Tyler and he is okay. as it missed his heart. Carol Lockwood calls an ambulance to keep appearances.

Damon chases and confronts Connor in the parking lot. Connor is stronger than he looks and is able to hold his own and is about to stake Damon when Stefan announces his presence. Connor gets in his truck and runs. None of the vampires present superspeeds after him.

Damon getting attacked by Connor

Stefan punches Damon for sharing blood with Elena. Elena runs up the balcony to help April. The minute she sees her friend sitting in a pool of blood, however, her fangs pop out and she goes in for the kill. Fortunately, just before Elena attacks her, Caroline uses this opportunity to teach her some self control. She tells Elena to compel April to forget that a guy stabbed her and her babysitter tried to kill her at her dad’s funeral. Jeremy and Matt are in the Mystic Grill, so is Connor, who notices the bite on Matt's neck. Jeremy on the other hand sees some tattoos on Connor nobody else has seen.

Connor's Hunter's mark

Connor reveals Pastor Young's suicide letter, talking about a "greater evil" that demands sacrifices. Stefan confronts Elena about lying to him and sharing blood with Damon. Stefan calls Elena, Caroline, Damon, Bonnie, Jeremy and Matt to have a little gathering where they remember all the people each of them lost including; Alaric, Jenna, Zach, Lexi, Bill Forbes, Mayor Lockwood, Vicki, Grayson, Miranda and Grams.

I miss you too, buddy.

Damon refuses to take part and instead, he heads to the graveyard to Alaric’s grave, makes a speech about how he misses his friend and leaves the bottle of alcohol on the grave. Alaric’s ghost appears, saying misses Damon, too.

Elenacompels a human for the first time as a vampire when she compels April to forget what happened to her at the memorial.

Thanks to the explosion that killed the newly-reformed Town Council led by Pastor Young, Mayor Lockwood and Sheriff Forbes have resumed power in Mystic Falls. However, the Sheriff thinks there may has been more to the explosion than meets the eye and questions Damon to find out if he had anything to do with the council being blown up.[1]

It was later revealed that the explosion was orchestrated by Atticus Shane, who was manipulated by Silas into organizing three sacrifices of twelve people each in order to complete the Expression Triangle.

Elena willingly exchanges blood with Damon for the first time. In the books, exchanging blood gives vampires sexual pleasure.

Elena's first time feeding directly from a human in the books, is also Matt, just like how it occurred in this episode.

All the deaths in the past months prompt the group to take a look back at all of those who have died, leading to a touching impromptu memorial and a nice surprise ending. [2]

Cultural References

Thetis dips Achilles in the river Styx, holding him by the heel.

Achilles Heel : a weak spot on an otherwise impenetrable defense. This is usually a deadly weakness that can lead to downfall. It refers to the mythical hero Achilles, who was invulnerable all over, except by his heel, where his mother held him while performing the magic that protected him. He survived many battles but died after being shot with an arrow to the heel.

Bambi - an animated Disney movie about a baby deer growing up in the woods after the death of his mother. It is often used as synonym of baby deer.

Bloodlust - the craving for blood typical of vampires, which is especially overwhelming in recently-turned vampires who have yet to learn control.

"Rip the proverbial band-aid " - a phrase that refers to the fact that if you rip off band-aid quickly, there will be a sharp pain, but it will quickly go away. However, if you try to slowly pull the band-aid off, it will be a less intense pain, but it will last much longer. In the end, most find it's preferable to rip the band-aid off to get it over with quickly.

After feeding on a deer, Elena interrupts her make-out with Stefan to puke up blood - very similar to the scene between Sookie and Alcide in the episode Let's Boot and Rally of True Blood.

Busybody - a name used to describe somebody who meddles into the affairs of others.

Sky Lanterns are a Chinese invention. However, in Thailand, releasing a lantern is symbolic of problems and worries floating away. Because they have open flame and paper in their construction, they are a fire hazard and are banned in many countries.

Pay it forward - the concept of asking the beneficiary of a good deed to repay it to others instead of the original benefactor. Although the concept is/was already in a Greek play published in 317 AD, it was popularized by the 2000 movie starring Haley Joel Osment.

Pixie cut - Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina

Pixie Cut - a really short haircut for women. Popularized in the 1950's by Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina .

Grief Sex - It is said that only four things can counteract grief: sex, substance abuse, travel and hurting other people.

Germaphobe - Any person who is obsessed with cleanliness and bacteria. Many of these people have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Environmental Cleanup - the removal of contaminants from the environment, usually to protect human health.

Continuity

A couple of days have passed since the events of Growing Pains. Damon implies this when he tells Stefan that Elena has been adjusting to being a vampire for days now.

Alaric was last seen in The Departed. This is his second appearance as a ghost. Damon's insistence that the seat next to him is taken is a homage to his drinking buddy.

Damon: (to Alaric's headstone) "You know what they are? Children. Like lighting a candle's going to make everything okay, or even saying a prayer. Or pretending Elena's not going to end up just like the rest of us murdering vampires. Stupid, delusional, exasperating little children. And I know what you're going to say: 'It makes them feel better, Damon.' So what? For how long? A minute? A day? What difference does it make? Because in the end, when you lose somebody, every candle, every prayer is not going to make up for the fact that the only thing that you have left is a hole in your life where that somebody that you cared about used to be. And a rock with a birthday carved into it... that I'm pretty sure is wrong. So thanks, friend. Thanks for leaving me here to babysit. Because I should be long gone by now. I didn't get the girl, remember? I'm just stuck here fighting my brother and taking care of the kids. You owe me big."